The civic shaping of technology: California's electric vehicle program

Constructivist technology studies have often cast government as one "social group" among many, reflecting a liberal pluralist view of politics. This a rticle argues, in contrast, that due to the conceptions of citizenship conv eyed by policy designs, governments have a special role to play in the shap ing of new technologies. This argument is illustrated in the case of the co ntroversial 1996 decision by the California Air Resources Board to signific antly revise its electric vehicle program. The article shows that the board 's decision changed the image of citizenship conveyed by its policy design, thus influencing the civic values embedded within electric vehicle technol ogy.